advice on phonics instruction OPG & ETC

[Emmy]

I am trying to figure out how to proceed on phonics instruction for my oldest son (age 7 1/2). I started him on the OPG with ETC workbooks when he was 6. He was quite ready to learn to read and we moved through it very quickly - at around lesson 100 he suddenly took off in his reading. This coincided with around the end of school *last* year. In that year he also did ETC books 1, 2, 3 and half of 6. (we skipped 4 and 5 because that is how Winterpromise scheduled it and I used their LA schedule for a few weeks)

Starting this fall, I did not pick the OPG back up again because by that point he was just reading so well I didn't think I needed to. I also didn't pick ETC back up, although he did finish book 6 at some point or other.

He's reading well I think for his age although not the super advanced reader I see some moms on here describe! :) For his "fun" reading he typically reads things around the 3rd grade level, for his instructional reading he reads things around the 4th and some 5th grade level. He has a very extensive vocabulary which seems to have helped him in reading.

So.....as I'm wrapping up this year and planning for next...any thoughts on the fact that I didn't finish OPG or ETC? Should I have him do the workbooks we skipped over the summer or next year? Should I quickly scoot through the rest of OPG for peace of mind? I guess I'm wondering if I made a mistake not picking phonics back up and I don't feel like it's too late to go back if I need to.

Advice appreciated.

[Gretchen in NJ]

We were also doing OPG and stopped at 115 for the same reason. My girls are reading chapter books, so why bother? So, I thought.

Then, my 4th grader started Spelling Workout D and had some trouble with two Lessons. So, I unpacked OPG and picked-up where we left off. Now, her spelling is back on track.:auto:

According to WTM (if I remember correctly,) I don't think you need to use a phonics program with OPG. OPG is phonics based. Spelling Workout is also phonics based.

How is his spelling? Is it right up there with his vocabulary?

Gretchen

[ELaurie]

you probably don't need to go back to TOPG at this point.

Look over the last few chapters, which introduce multisyllable words (up to and including supercalifragilisticexpealidocious) and see if there is anything it would be helpful to review with him.

It sounds like he's reading very well!

[kaylk in tx]

listen for any words that he has difficulty with. review the pages in OPG that deal with those kinds of words. that's all i would do...:bigear:

[Paula in PA]

Start where you left off and just let him go through as many lessons in a day as he can / wants. If you hit one where he has trouble, you work on it till he's got it, then go on. It would be a good way to review and find out if any shaky areas exist.

[Emmy]

Thanks for the input! He's actually not a great speller at all - when he is writing he tends to spell things out phonetically without regard for how it looks on the page. We've made some good progress with that recently though and he's starting to think about whether a word looks right after he writes it down.

I think I will quickly scan over a few of the latter chapters with him and see if he has any difficulty. I just want to make sure he has good word attack skills as the vocabulary in his reading will increase.

[ThriceBlessed]

Start where you left off and just let him go through as many lessons in a day as he can / wants. If you hit one where he has trouble, you work on it till he's got it, then go on. It would be a good way to review and find out if any shaky areas exist.

This is exactly what I did with my ds. I gave him the book and had him read the lesson, if he had any problems with the words I would then "teach" the lesson. This worked out very well and highlighted a few gaps he had in his reading. We had a little celebration when he finished the book.

Blessings,